Domestic

Mass Exodus Begins Wed. for Lunar New Year's Celebrations

Write 2018-02-14 15:03:16, Update 2018-02-14 15:06:16

Anchor: A mass exodus has started in South Korea on Wednesday, as people head to their hometowns to spend time with their families for Seollal or Lunar New Year's day. Thousands are also heading to the airport as more and more Koreans choose to spend the holiday overseas.
Our Oh Soo-young has more.

Report: Ahead of Lunar New Year's day which falls on Friday this year, hundreds of thousands of South Koreans have already started making their way back to their hometowns to spend the holidays with their families.

According to the Korea Expressway Corporation, more than four-point-four million vehicles are expected to hit the highways on Wednesday, with congestion likely to build up from 6 p.m.

Road authorities expect almost four million cars to be on the road on Thursday and traffic to peak on Friday with some five-point-four million cars expected to travel along the expressways.

Meanwhile, South Korea's largest international airport is bustling with travelers heading overseas instead of to their hometowns for the annual holiday.

According to the Incheon International Airport Corporation, around 98-thousand passengers are forecast to depart the country on Wednesday alone, marking the largest number estimated to leave the country throughout the Lunar New Year period.

Over the next five days, some 940-thousand passengers are expected to go through the airport. That translates to an average of 187-thousand people per day, or an eight-point-one percent rise compared to the year before. However, airport officials say with the recent opening of Incheon's second passenger terminal, facilities won't be as congested.

The airport recommends passengers use public transport to get to the airport and make use of automated services for hassle-free transit.
Oh Soo-young, KBS World Radio News.